William O. Douglas Clinical Professor of Law and Deputy Dean for Experiential Education
Yale Law School

Michael J. Wishnie is William O. Douglas Clinical Professor of Law and Deputy Dean for Experiential Education at Yale Law School. Professor Wishnie’s teaching, scholarship, and law practice have focused on immigration, labor and employment, voting rights, government transparency, and veterans law. For years, Professor Wishnie and his students have represented low-wage workers, immigrants, and veterans in creative and path-breaking litigation, including successful suits against the Trump Administration’s “Muslim ban,” to secure the right of disabled veterans to bring class actions against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and to establish the right of National Guard members to form and join unions. He and his students have also represented unions, churches, veterans’ groups, and grassroots organizations in a range of impactful legislative, media, and community education matters.

From 1998-2006, Professor Wishnie taught at New York University School of Law. Previously, he worked at the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants’ Rights Project; at The Legal Aid Society, in Brooklyn, NY; as a law clerk to Judges H. Lee Sarokin and Justices Harry A. Blackmun and Stephen G. Breyer. Before earning his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1993, Professor Wishnie spent two years teaching in the People’s Republic of China.